Systems and methods for avoidance of partial pulse interference in radar. The systems and methods include a radar processor for generating control signals that direct the generation and transmission of two consecutive radar pulses using a waveform and pulse train generator and transmitter. The systems and methods also include receiving reflected echoes corresponding to the transmitted pulses using a receiver and processing the echoes using an analog to digital converter, filter, and digital signal processor to separate echoes from each pulse, process them, and combine the results to avoid partial pulse interference while maintaining pulse energy and an acceptable signal to noise ratio.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A radar transmitting and processing method comprising: generating two consecutive radar pulses, each pulse having a time length duration of T/2; transmitting the generated radar pulses; receiving reflected echoes of the transmitted radar pulses; and processing the received echoes into a usable form, wherein processing the received echoes comprises: separating the received echoes into a first echo signal corresponding to the first transmitted pulse and a second echo signal corresponding to the second transmitted pulse; filtering the first echo signal with a first pulse compression matched filter detector to produce a first filtered echo signal; filtering the second echo signal with a second pulse compression matched filter detector to produce a second filtered echo signal; and discarding the first T/2 duration of the first filtered echo signal to produce a truncated first filtered echo signal.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating two consecutive pulses comprises: generating two consecutive pulses wherein each pulse has linear frequency modulation, a center frequency, and the same bandwidth such that the separation between the center frequencies of the pulses is greater than the bandwidth.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing further comprises producing a visual representation of weather data.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the received echoes further comprises: discarding the first T/2 duration of the second filtered echo signal to produce a truncated second filtered echo signal: taking the magnitude of the truncated first filtered echo signal to produce a non-complex truncated first filtered echo signal; taking the magnitude of the truncated second filtered echo signal to produce a non-complex truncated second filtered echo signal; and delaying the non-complex truncated first filtered echo signal by T/2 to produce a delayed non-complex truncated first filtered echo signal.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the received echoes further comprises: delaying the truncated first filtered echo signal by T/2 to produce a delayed truncated first filtered echo signal.
6. A system comprising: a radar processor comprising: a first component configured to generate control signals for two consecutive pulses; and a second component configured to process received echoes into a usable form; a waveform and pulse train generator and synthesizer device for generating consecutive pulses based on the control signals, each of the consecutive pulses having a time length duration of T/2; a transmitter for transmitting the generated consecutive pulses; and a receiver for receiving reflected echoes of the transmitted pulses, wherein the second component comprises: a first multiplier for separating the echoes corresponding to the first transmitted pulse from the received echoes; a second multiplier for separating the echoes corresponding to the second transmitted pulse from the received echoes; a first pulse compression matched filter detector for filtering the echoes corresponding to the first transmitted pulse to produce a first filtered echo signal; a second pulse compression matched filter detector for filtering the echoes corresponding to the second transmitted pulse to produce a second filtered echo signal; a first truncating element for discarding the first T/2 duration of the first filtered echo signal to produce a truncated first filtered echo signal; and a second truncating element for discarding the first T/2 duration of the second filtered echo signal to produce a truncated second filtered echo signal.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the first component is configured to generate control signals for two consecutive pulses, each pulse having linear frequency modulation, a center frequency, and the same bandwidth such that the separation between the center frequencies of the pulses is greater than the bandwidth.
8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the second component is configured to process the received echoes into a visual representation of weather data.
9. The system of claim 6 , wherein the second component further comprises: a first magnitude element for converting the truncated first filtered echo signal to a non-complex truncated first filtered echo signal; a second magnitude element for converting the truncated second filtered echo signal to a non-complex truncated second filtered echo signal; and a delaying element for delaying the non-complex truncated first filtered echo signal by T/2.
10. The system of claim 6 , wherein the second component further comprises: a delaying element for delaying the truncated first filtered echo signal by T/2.
11. The method of claim 4 , wherein processing the received echoes further comprises: amplifying the non-complex truncated second filtered echo signal by a factor of two during the first T/2 seconds to produce an amplified non-complex truncated second filtered echo signal.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein processing the received echoes further comprises: summing the delayed non-complex truncated first filtered echo signal and the amplified non-complex truncated second filtered echo signal to produce an output signal during the first T/2 seconds; and summing the delayed non-complex truncated first filtered echo signal and the non-complex truncated second filtered echo signal to produce an output signal after the first T/2 seconds.
13. The method of claim 5 , wherein processing the received echoes further comprises: amplifying the truncated second filtered echo signal by a factor of two during the first T/2 seconds to produce an amplified truncated second filtered echo signal.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein processing the received echoes further comprises: summing the delayed truncated first filtered echo signal and the amplified truncated second filtered echo signal to produce a combined signal during the first T/2 seconds; summing the delayed truncated first filtered echo signal and the truncated second filtered echo signal to produce a combined signal after the first T/2 seconds; and taking the magnitude of the combined signal to produce a non-complex output signal.
15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the second component further comprises: a switch that resides at a first switch position for the first T/2 seconds and at a second switch position thereafter; and an amplifier that amplifies the non-complex truncated second filtered echo signal by a factor of 2 when the switch is in the first switch position to produce an amplified non-complex truncated second filtered echo signal.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the second component further comprises a summing element for summing the delayed non-complex truncated first filtered echo signal with the amplified non-complex truncated second filtered echo signal when the switch is in the first position, and with the non-complex truncated second filtered echo signal when the switch is in the second position to produce an output signal.
17. The system of claim 10 , wherein the second component further comprises: a switch that resides at a first switch position for the first T/2 seconds and at a second switch position thereafter; and an amplifier that amplifies the truncated second filtered echo signal by a factor of 2 when the switch is in the first switch position to produce an amplified truncated second filtered echo signal.
18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the second component further comprises: a summing element for summing the delayed truncated first filtered echo signal with the amplified truncated second filtered echo signal when the switch is in the first position, and with the truncated second filtered echo signal when the switch is in the second position to produce a combined signal; and a magnitude element for converting the combined signal to a non-complex output signal.
19. An improved airborne weather radar system for reducing partial pulse interference, the system comprising: a radar processor comprising: a first component configured to generate control signals for two time linked consecutive pulses; and a second component configured to process received echoes into a usable form; a waveform and pulse train generator and synthesizer device for generating consecutive pulses based on the control signals; a transmitter for transmitting the generated consecutive pulses; and a receiver for receiving reflected echoes of the transmitted pulses, wherein the second component is also configured to reduce partial pulse interference by summing processed echoes from each of the two consecutive pulses.
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April 4, 2006
February 24, 2009
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